Project Willowbrook

How can artists help identify and map a community’s most important cultural assets?

Overview

Willowbrook, CA’s location, between downtown LA and Compton, makes it a powerful space for economic and urban renewal projects as the Los Angeles area continues to grow. Project Willowbrook was an innovative cultural asset mapping project that assisted Willowbrook in adapting to its rapidly changing landscape. Rosten Woo, an LA-based artist and academic, helped to reimagine how the city talked about cultural assets through his dedication to knowing Willowbrook through the lens of its residents.

Community NARRATIVE

Willowbrook is a highly diverse community in California with 35,983 residents (2010) and a median age of 27, which is a decade younger than the median age in California. Pastor Delores Glass, a longtime Willowbrook resident and pastor at Baptist Fellowship Church, summarized the obstacles the community has faced best when writing that:

“For 92 years Willowbrook has been one of the simplest yet most complex communities in Los Angeles County. Willowbrook has survived major actions taken by neighboring municipalities that divided government jurisdictions and service delivery; three major redevelopment efforts; two major civil unrests; major demographic changes; and the loss of major industry.” (Workbook 11)

The Vision

While renewed interest in the community has taken place for quite some time, the reopening of Martin Luther King Jr. hospital, located in the neighborhood, prompted the LA County Department of Arts & Culture (LACAC) to involve themselves in the community’s transformation. LA County and the University of California agreed to reopen the hospital in 2009 with the hospital reopening in 2015. Additionally, the Willowbrook community was experiencing high levels of planning fatigue after decades of contributing to unrealized visions. Therefore, the challenge was not only to make a visioning tool but to develop real relationships of trust with residents in order to overcome disillusionment with the planning process.

In light of the many changes the Willowbrook community was to endure with the reopening of the Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in the neighborhood, art became a vehicle for galvanizing residents and characterizing the distinct cultural identity of Willowbrook. LACAC engaged in a close conversation with the community to identify its needs and aspirations, translating these into a long-term program for the arts. For an area defined as much by its adjacent neighborhoods as by its own internal tensions, art could become a way to coalesce community. To do this, they would embark on a focused listening campaign, hearing from residents across the community. They would also map existing cultural spaces and initiatives to build on assets already in place.

The Project

Project Willowbrook is an innovative and holistic cultural asset survey completed through community engagement. The project was broken up into two phases.

Phase 1: Cultural Asset Mapping completed by LA Commons:

• 22 stakeholder interviews

• 2 focus groups

• Targeted survey distribution

• Community JAM sessions and public engagement led by local artists

• Pedestrian-scale billboard and door-to-door resident outreach

• 2 artist salon and technical assistance workshops

• 1 input event with MLK Medical Campus staff

• 1 community input meeting

Phase 2: “Willowbrook es” project spearheaded by Rosten Woo

Rosten Woo was brought onto the project nine months after its inception. Rather than looking at Willowbrook from a bird’s eye view when conducting his work, Woo engaged with the community’s unknown assets and creative people over the course of a year. A community tour and festival allowed residents to embrace and celebrate their community, allowing Woo to witness Willowbrook’s achievements and points of pride.

Woo’s “Willowbrook es” project complements the kind of standardized cultural asset mapping process LA Commons undertook in Phase 1. Rather than listing statistics, buildings, and schools as cultural assets, Woo highlighted specific people in his work. The “Willowbrook es” book is a comprehensive collection of Willowbrook’s families, homes, and prized possessions. This document exists to celebrate Willowbrook in its current state. Importantly however, the Willowbrook Workbook also includes suggestions for civic planners. In that regard the The Workbook exists to understand the potential for urban planning in the future by highlighting the Willowbrook community’s present strengths.

Funding and Budget

• Funding and support came from the National Endowment for the Arts’ grant program, LACAC, and LA Commons.

Roles and Partners

• LA Commons is a nonprofit organization that works with local communities throughout the Los Angeles area to facilitate and help materialize local arts practices. LA Commons provided preliminary research, conducted community member interviews, and mapped the areas cultural assets.

• Rosten Woo, a Los Angeles-based artist, writer, and educator contributed artistic vision and expertise in public engagement and urban planning.

• Local Partnering Organizations:

  • Concerned Citizens of Willowbrook

  • Fellowship Baptist Church Friends of the A.C. Bilbrew Library

  • Friends of the Willowbrook Library

  • Friends and Neighbors (area resident group)

  • St. Lawrence of Brindisi Catholic Church

  • Watts Century Latino Organization

  • Watts-Willowbrook Boys and Girls Club

• LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas provided additional project support.

Impacts and Outcomes

• Short Term. The creation of the Cultural Asset Mapping Report, the Willowbrook Workbook, and the Willowbrook Book.

• Unexpected. The project captured the community’s imagination in ways that were far more enthusiastic than previous attempts at planning Willowbrook had. This positive reception can in part be evidenced by the community holding book launch parties for Woo to celebrate the community-sourced visioning document.

References

Exploring Our Town: Willowbrook Case Study

Willowbrook Cultural Asset Mapping Report

LA County Arts: Project Willowbrook

Willowbrook Book (Rosten Woo)

Willowbrook Workbook

Willowbrook Survey Results